HTML5 ARTICLE

HTML5 Report Week in Review

With one major HTML5 conference over and another on the horizon, the HTML5 space was downright reflective this week. Here’s a look at some of the top stories.

Kicking things off this week, Pyramedium founder and CEO Gregory Menvielle shared his insights into last month’s HTML5 Developers’ Conference, namely that HTML5 seems to has hit its stride. In part this has to do with Intel VP Christos Georgiopoulos’ assertion that HTML5 is now clearly in the final “Plateau of Productivity” stage of Gartner’s (News - Alert) Hype Cycle. However, the conference’s overall tone seemed to be the clincher: People were more focused on overcoming the challenges of making HTML5 mainstream rather than trying to help it gain acceptance.

Meanwhile, a new study from VisionMobile (News - Alert) states that HTML5 is being held back on mobile not because of an inherent flaw or weakness, but because HTML5’s current selection of mobile tools aren’t quite there yet. Indeed, while 61 percent of developers write for mobile browsers, 63 percent of apps on Google (News - Alert) Play cannot be written in HTML5 because critical APIs to facilitate this aren’t yet in place.

Of course, what kind of week would it be without more controversy over HTML5’s proposed DRM? Once again, concerns have arisen that DRM will limit what users can do with media. In particular, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) predicts a Web where even the simple act of cutting and pasting text will be disallowed. Others believe HTML5 DRM will lead to increased costs for consumers while doing nothing to prevent piracy.

Finally, the “full screen Mario” HTML5 site that allowed visitors to play the entirety of the original NES Super Mario Bros. In their browser was taken down due to a claim of copyright infringement from none other than Nintendo. To be fair, the site created by Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute computer science student Joshua Goldberg was using the game maker’s intellectual property, but it’s always a shame to see something so neat get taken away.

That does it for this week, but be sure to visit HTML5 Report for more news in the space.